Is it worth babying a Brown Turkey fig by giving it the prime warm spot beside our wood-stove alcove?  Since we already have two fig varieties that are hardier in our climate (Chicago Hardy and Celeste), the answer will be based on taste.  Daddy was kind enough to give me one of his Brown Turkey figs, which we roasted along with three Chicago Hardy figs and then sampled to solve the mystery.

The upshot?  I thought that the Brown Turkey fig had a slightly figgier flavor than the Chicago Hardy and contained less acidity, but both varieties ranked about the same in terms of quality of overall flavor.  Mark preferred our Chicago Hardy (although I didn't blindfold him, and he's always kind about saying that whatever I put in front of him from our farm is better than any other option).

Looks like I'll be saving that ultra-special spot for a different not-quite-hardy-here edible.  The possibilities are endless!

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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